Rare but nobody cares: 1991 Peugeot 106 Electric. A factory EV option in the late 90s
Rare but nobody cares: 1991 Peugeot 106 Electric. A factory EV option in the late 90s
When saw this today I thought the owner was just having a joke with the green EV numberplate tag that immediately caught my eye.
But then I saw the 'Electric' decal on the side I thought it might still be a joke related to that. After all it was quite common for (especially French) cars in the 90s to have quirky trim levels; Wave/Surf/Excite/Elation/etc https://autoshite.com/topic/54842-ridiculous-trim-designations/). Even Fiat had a Fiat 500 'Diesel', which only came in Petrol.
But then on closer look, I couldn't see an exhaust and there was a awkwardly placed flap on the front wing, so I thought it was a passion project type EV conversion. The 106 chassis is really fun little go kart after all. And if someone had the money and the will, why not.
I figured that there might be some information about it online if that was the case. Certainly someone with that dedication would have to have a deep passion, and they might have documented or made a forum post about it.
Nah, it's actually a factory option. PSA apparently decided to offer a battery EV all the way back in 1996. https://www.car.info/en-se/peugeot/106/106-3-door-eletric-11153757/specs
I mean, with 15hp you'll be struggling to even worry the skin on your rice pudding.
Absolutely love seeing things like this.
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It was probably a "compliance car" or something along those lines. Automakers have been building tiny batches of compliance cars for decades to fill a certain small niche. Usually to appease some government regulation or under threat of more strict rules. Years back Ford and Toyota (and others) built handfuls of electric early Focus and Rav4 to comply with Californian rules and there have been others throughout the years.
When you look at these early electric cars it really shows how far behind battery technology and motor design was. People love to come up with ridiculous conspiracies, but the fact remains that even in a small car 15 HP is atrocious and the range for that Peugeot was probably 50 miles, if that. And I'm sure Peugeot lost money on every one they sold. They were simply not viable 2ith the technology at the time.
I doubt it was for anything to do with compliance. More that it was just PSA trying something out. PSA Group marques are fairly well known for doing unusual things, even if it isn't financially viable.
From the wiki:
In 1995, Peugeot launched an electric powered version of the 106, called the 106 Electrique. This was offered in a number of European countries including France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom.
The electric powertrain was developed and built by French engineering company Heuliez. The car used Nickel-cadmium battery technology manufactured by Saft Groupe S.A., had a top speed of 56 mph (90 km/h) and had an official range of 100 km (62 mi).
Despite the high price of the vehicle, Peugeot anticipated demand for around 15,000 to 20,000 Peugeot 106 Électriques each year, with an expected total production run of 100,000 vehicles. In the end, only 6,400 Peugeot 106 Électriques were sold between 1995 and 2003, most purchased by the French Administration.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot_106
To me that reads like the French govt thought that a fleet of small EVs would be useful for their staff to use for short metropolitan/LA travel thinking that it would reduce fuel/servicing costs or something. For that, it's specs are totally adequate.
Seems that they outsourced the manufacturering to Heuliez who are a coachbuilder who probably sourced some kind of milk float drive train and stuck in the body and chassis delivered to them by Peugeot.
Selling it on a wider market beyond the French govt was likely a 'well, we've gone through this effort, and we're building them anyway, might as well sell them to the public and see what happens'.
Obviously, like everyone else who tried it around the same time, they realised that it was just too soon to try tech wise. And the French govt also realised that there was little benefit to overcome the list of negatives. From things I read in trying to find out more about them, at least some are being kept on the road by replacing the batteries with LiOn and more modern e-motors. One example had a BMW i3 motor retrofitted.
This particular example was in the middle of the Angus countryside, with two toddler sized car seats on the back bench, so I suspect that it wasn't entirely as it was as it left the factory in 1998 and likely had a bit more power at its disposal.
Except that GM made the one electric car that was absolutely beloved.
GM probably lost tens of thousands of dollars (maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars) on every EV1 they built. It was a great first effort to see what could have been built at the time, but it was never a viable product to sell.
GM's Chevy Bolt EV right now is much loved as well and it has specs that far, far exceeded anything the EV1 offered.
*had. RIP to a real one.
...and GM discontinued the Bolt as well, despite solid sales & demand, because they were also losing money on each unit sold.
They also said the Bolt is coming back in like 2 years as an Ultium vehicle which should make it even better still.
GM probably lost $XX,000 on each EV1.
They are probably losing $X,000 on early current Bolt EV.
Their move to Ultium will probably either break ev3n or actually turn a profit in the Ultium Bolt.
Oh, that's cool. I'll keep an eye out then! I used to have a Volt and a Bolt and I really liked them.